- by Richard Titelius
- The Guardian
- Issue #2121
CPA member Emily, a Palestinian activist, and CPA President Vinnie Molina at the conference.
With the clouds of war building over the Middle East between Israel and the many enemies it is making in the region, the intractable war between Russia and Ukraine in a proxy war with the US, and simmering conflicts in Africa and the South China Sea, it seems as though the leaders of the world are sleepwalking into war.
The world does not need to be this way and IPAN held its 2024 Annual Conference over the weekend of 5 and 6 October 2024. IPAN is a grassroots network of organisations and concerned individuals aiming to build public dialogue and pressure for change to build a truly independent foreign policy for Australia.
On the Friday before the conference a public meeting was held at the Perth City Library. Former WA Premier Professor Carmen Lawrence who as a former member of the ALP spoke up against AUKUS, a foreign policy debacle which would not make Australia more secure or promote better relationships with our Asian neighbours.
Another former ALP politician and now Independent, Senator Fatima Payman talked about the failings of the current Federal Labor policy on the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Professor Lisa Natividad of Guam University spoke up about how the US military build-up on Guam paralleled with the establishment of AUKUS and the increased US military presence in Australia.
Greens Senator for WA and spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Jordan Steele-John spoke out against AUKUS as not being good for our defence or our relations with China. Senator Steele-John was also concerned by how the Australian Defence Forces were shaping the debate on what our security risks are and where they come from. This has brought about the heavy militarisation of northern Australia, with large numbers of US military personnel in Darwin and their arsenal including six B-52 bombers.
The Conference began with panel discussions on the current geo-political situation, how to prevent World War 3 and also Pillars 1 and 2 of the AUKUS Agreement. The implementation of these AUKUS pillars through the basing of nuclear submarines on Garden Island on the coast of Western Australia and also associated military installations in South Australia and New South Wales has brought security risks and environmental risks.
One session looked at alternatives to the current defence force posture and how a more independent defence policy would make Australia more secure and produce better relations with our neighbouring nations.
Veteran peace activist Bevan Ramsden said “increased interoperability and interchangeability of Australia with the US military is taking us towards a military engagement.” Referring to Sam Roggeveen’s The Echidna Strategy (reviewed in the Guardian #2079, 20 November 2023), Ramsden said the Echidna is not an aggressive animal – and is over one million years old. The Echidna Strategy suggests Australia will need to defend itself without American help. We should rely on peaceful and diplomatic means to resolve conflict – which would show mutual respect. Ramsden added that Australia would find more security within a non-aligned movement – than current arrangements which align us with US and British imperialism.
The next speaker, from NSW was Greens Defence spokesman Senator David Shoebridge. Pillar 2 of AUKUS was more insidious that Pillar 1, as it aligns us with the defence strategy of the US, which, “is a genuine threat to our national security.” Instead said Shoebridge, we should have a defence strategy that is about defending ourselves and our interests and not threatening our neighbours.
Retired Major Cameron Leckie, a member of IPAN and Australians for War Powers Reform said he had not joined the Australian Defence Forces to prop up US imperialism, adding we should be more concerned about the health of our soils and climate change – protecting these would enhance our security. Leckie also said a strategy of deterrence is going to fail Australia and the defence aims of Australia and the US are not aligned. US imperial system is also in decline. The next three to five years are going to be critical for us and the United States. Australians also needed to deal with the spectre of cultural programming which is keeping them distracted from the real issues. Legacy media in Australia including the ABC, never wastes a crisis in pushing us towards war. This is why civil society which is active and engaged has never been more important.
Dr Albert Palazzo formerly a Director of War Studies for the Australian Army and is now an Adjunct Professor at University of NSW in Humanities and Social Sciences posed the question, “What does Australia actually need for a national security policy?” Palazzo said that our current policy is broken and since 1901 we have been dependant on the UK and then the US. The government needs to be honest about its relationship with the US as at present we are being lied to about this military and security relationship. This has caused a loss of sovereignty as certain decisions can’t be made. The way the world is ordered suggested Palazzo makes most Australians afraid of the world. Any reading of the AUKUS agreement said Palazzo, would not lead us to believe that the submarines were going to materialise or that the US would come to our rescue. Palazzo argued that meeting the challenge of reconciliation with First Nations people would make Australia more secure.
Lisa Natividad from Guam spoke of the colonisation of her people for over 350 years and how Chamorra people continue to suffer under US domination and exploitation – especially through the history of US bases not only on her island of Guam/Guahan, but also in the nearby Marshall Islands which suffered from the effects of nuclear radiation as a consequence of the 67 nuclear blasts that shook the islands from 1946 to 1958. Lisa spoke of babies born with no bones who are known as Jellyfish babies, babies with no eyeballs, or with tails. Natividad and other activists have long sought a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific. Natividad said that it was not possible to clean up anything nuclear so we should keep nuclear of the table, and keep uranium in the ground.
Ann Wright a former Colonel in the US Army colonel and diplomat began her talk by declaring, “The United States is not looking for peace anywhere in the world. Today alliances are supposed to be for peace but they are actually for war.” Wright spoke of the huge military buildup occurring in the Pacific with three military bases being constructed in Micronesia, an additional base on Guam and another on the island of Palau. This build up by the US has prompted Russian and Chinese military manoeuvres in the Pacific – we are awash in confrontation.
NATO is also coming to the Pacific; nine NATO member nations participated in war manoeuvres in the Pacific recently. Annette Brownlie, IPAN Chairperson said that war was still only a potential while climate change, poverty and abuse of women were real. Indonesia had recently signed the Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons. Brownlie suggested IPAN and ICAN write a letter to the Indonesian government to thank them for signing the treaty.
The last speaker for the day was Corazon Fabros from the Philippines, current Co-President of the International Peace Bureau, who said the Philippines is being used as the focal point for the encirclement of China by the US. Fabros wants to have prohibition of nuclear weapons included in the Philippines Constitution, especially as the return to power by a Marcos in the Philippines has seen the return of US bases. Closer military ties have also been resumed with Japan and Australia. The archipelago is being militarised in preparation for the US encirclement of China. US troop numbers have doubled. “We live in extremely dangerous times and we need to create critical mass for peace and justice,” concluded Corazon Fabros.
There were also sessions by WA environmental activists lead by WA Greens member of parliament, Brad Pettitt on the impact of war and the military on the environment as well as on democracy, threats and secret deals, militarisation of education involving a number of WA activists including Petrina Harley from WA Disrupt Burrup Hub, Elise West from Teachers for Peace, and Ella Marchionda a co-founder of Students for Palestine WA.
The Communist Party of Australia, which is well represented in IPAN, joins the call for a public dialogue and pressure for change in the foreign policy formulation by our government to build a truly independent and sovereign nation which will help build better engagement with our Asian neighbours and play a positive role in solving international conflicts peacefully.
